UPDATED: Beloit police investigating death of Beloit man found shot in roadway

Town of Beloit Police officer Allen Cass, left, and city of Beloit Police officer Jeff Loveland divert Beloit-Newark Road traffic Friday morning onto McKinley Avenue and away from the scene of a death investigation at the top of the hill near Townview Elementary School.

BELOIT--An autopsy is planned for Beloit a man found shot and lying in a road early Friday in Beloit.

Police are investigating the death of Edward D. Haley, 36, Beloit, as a homicide, according to a Beloit police news release.

Officers were called at 12:15 a.m. to the 2100 block of Beloit-Newark Road for a report of a man down in the roadway. They found the man and determined he'd been shot.

The scene is just east of Townview Elementary School, which educates third-, fourth- and fifth-grade students.

Haley was taken to Beloit Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later.

Beloit police set up a command post at the scene and had six evidence technicians processing it.

Beloit-Newark Road between McKinley and Nye School was closed through the morning.

Access to the school was possible from the west off Madison Road or Highway 213.

Town of Beloit Police Chief Steve Kopp said he talked to school officials about 3 a.m. to alert them to the situation and let them know the road in front would be closed. School officials then notified parents.

"This messes up all their bus routes," Kopp said, speculating that more than 12 buses go in and out of the school each day. "They had to make considerable adjustments."

Kopp said police checked the school and the area around it before students were allowed in.

"We did a full sweep of Townview School and the grounds to make sure nothing had occurred there so the children wouldn't have to see a police presence," Kopp said.